Essie giveaway!

Hi everyone!  I know I said would be posting a giveaway on College Kara this week and it's finally here!  For my first giveaway, I decided to go with one of my favorite products for this season which is Essie's nail polish Scarlet O'Hara!

This is a gorgeous ruby red that would be wonderful for the holidays!  It has just a hint of shimmer to it and looks gorgeous both in and out of the bottle!

You can get a closer look at this color on Essie's website here!

There are only two rules for this giveaway and they are both very simple!

1.  You must be following College Kara's blog.

2.  You must be following College Kara on twitter.

You can access these options through the Rafflecopter widget below (which is how I will randomly select a winner!)

This contest closes on December 11th, so you have plenty of time to enter!

Best of luck to all of you!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks(giving) a bunch.

Hey everyone!  I know it's been a while since I've been able to blog, but I will have more time now that the semester is winding down!  I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I had to stay up at school for work this weekend, but lucky for me, my parents and one of my brothers came up to celebrate with me!  Here's just a few shots from my turkey day!

My brother Matt and I at dinner this afternoon.

Snowing on Thanksgiving over Lake Superior - gorgeous!

Right now I'm cuddled up in the hotel suite with my brother watching We Bought A Zoo.  This is my first Thanksgiving away from home, but I'm so glad my family is here with me!

There will be a giveaway for College Kara posted this week!  Eep!  I am so thankful for every single one of my wonderful readers!

Happy Turkey Day everyone!

Pea coats, please.

I know that pea coats are hardly a new trend but one thing I love to see every winter are all the great colors!  Anyone can rock a classic black peacoat, but sometimes it's great to find a fun, colorful one to best suit your personality!

Savvy: MICHAEL Michael Kors Double Breasted Pea Coat in Orange Spice // 295.00

Save:  Madewell Sidesaddle Riding Jacket in Bright Berry // 148.00

Splurge:  Brooks Brothers Wool Pea Coat in Grey // 598.00

What color is your pea coat?

CK

Care packages.

One of the best parts of going away from home to school is care packages!  The best part of having an amazing best friend is having her mother send you care packages full of homemade goodies!

Today I came home from the longest day ever on campus and I was absolutely exhausted.  After making a quick dinner I decided to check the mail just in case no one else had that day - and they hadn't!  We had lots of mail and two boxes and one of them happened to be for me!

My best friend's mom sends us the coolest stuff and this was by far my favorite box!

Pictured above there is a an adorable necklace, a mug with it's very own cute sweater, and a pair of knitted slippers (which I am wearing right now and they are so snuggly)!  My best friend's mom is a knitting guru and she always sends us the best and most creative stuff!

She sent my newly engaged roommate a pair of mittens that is meant for couples, where each person gets a single mitten & then they have one they can both put their hand into as well as matching hats - too cute!

I absolutely adore the necklace she sent me:

I love the colors: a warm mauve-y taupe and maroon details - I can't wait to wear!  

What do you like to get in a care package?  Can you knit something great?

CK

Bust, it seems.

One of my first posts here on college kara was entitled "Bubbles or bust." and talked about the pros and cons of bubble necklaces.  I decided to take up an offer I saw on Facebook from a store called "The Poke a Dot Shop" based out of Tulsa, Oklahoma.  I also spoke about this purchase in another post.

I placed my order with them for a wine red bubble necklace on August 21st while I was on vacation in Pennsylvania.  Unfortunately, I have yet to receive my order even though I paid for my necklace just over two months ago.

I'm especially saddened because due to posts on their Facebook, it sounds as if they've completed and shipped their orders placed since mine, and I have yet to receive my bubble necklace.

I have contacted their customer service via email twice already and have also called their provided number, but have yet to hear anything back other than an automated response.

This is both disappointing and disheartening because I would like to receive the item I have already paid for, and the event I purchased the necklace for has already come and passed.

Have any of you purchased something from The Poke a Dot Shop?

CK

Guac, guac, guac.

So I know this isn't the usual college kara post, but one thing I wanted to share with all my lovely readers is a new recipe I tried out this past weekend (I love cooking for people)!  Last week, one set of my parents came up and with them they brought me a bag of avocados from Costco!  So now I had seven avocados and needed a way to use two of them right away seeing as they were ripe!  This weekend, my other set of parents came up, so I decided to buy the other ingredients for a new guacamole recipe I had found.

The recipe went something like this:

2 avocados, cubed & mashed with a fork.

1/3 a tomato, the insides removed & cubed.

1/3 cup of gold corn.

1/3 cup of chopped purple onion &

the juice of 1/2 lime.

Salt to taste.

I ended up really enjoying it and so did my parents.  It took just about 10 minutes to whip up and if you don't finish the whole batch with your guests, the lime juice in the recipe keeps the avocado from browning for a day or two!

Are there any easy recipes you like to share with others.

Little things.

The other day my sorority was invited to a private shopping event at Francesca's.  For those of you who don't have a Francesca's near you, or perhaps have never heard of it, Francesca's is a chain of boutiques that sell jewelry, shoes, limited apparel and other knick knacks.  I wouldn't say that it's expensive per-se, but it's important to watch your spending because the little things do add up.  At our event I purchased the following:

1.  Coral leather clip-in hair bow.

2.  Gold bow ring

3.  Multi-colored chandelier earrings.

I also purchased another little turquoise ring but unfortunately after falling in love with it and wearing it nonstop for 5 days, the gem on it broke off & was lost on my walk home from campus.

Like I said earlier, it's not quite pricey, but with a 20% discount, my four items still added up to just about $40.

This weekend I was also fortunate enough to have my parents up and they spoiled me with lots of groceries, free meals as well as 2 new dresses and a new pullover fleece!

As you can see (kind of), I am wearing my new earrings with my fleece!

Have you purchased anything from Francesca's before?

CK